Brush



Aug. 5, 1958 R. w. HUTsoN BRUSH Filed Aug. 23, 1955 INVENTOR. ROBERT W. HUTSN ATTORNEY BRUSH Robert w. Humm, san Jose, Calif. Application August 23, 1955, Serial No.` 52959691 3 claims. (ci. 1s-167) This invention relates to an improved brush for clean:

ing the teeth and massaging the gums. This application' is a continuation-in-part of application Serial Number 138,493, filed January 13, 1950, nowabandoned This brush is the solution to a long-standing problem to,

provide a brush suitable for brushing both the. teeth and the gums. Many people erroneously assume that a toothbrush is intended solely for cleaning and polishing. the` teeth. Care of the gums has come to be considered equally important, for prevalent theories are that if the gums are not properly cared for, even healthyy teeth may be lost. Some dentists have longadvocated that the term toothbrush should be changed to the term mouthebrush,`as the latter would be moreY descriptive of the.

true function of the brush.

Brushes heretofore in use for brushingthe teeth-have proved'pto be unsuitable for useon the gums. TheyL have scratched the gingival tissue and have causeditto bleed'.

The problem for a long. time has been to provideone. brush.'withcharacteristics enabling it to do both jobsclean the teeth and massage the gums. thel brush of this invention solves.

This problem Another problem solved by this inventionhas. been-toprovide a brush which will clean the teeth thoroughlyv without abrading them. Toothbrushesheretofore.- inusev have been unsatisfactory because theyhavefscratcheds the,

enamel on the teeth.

Another problem has been to provide zatoothbrushwith.

bristles that will pick up toothpowder easily and .retain iton the working surface of the brush.. Tooth. powder. isgenerally held in the hand and picked. up by av moistVv brush. With the brushes heretofore inuse, the4 powder has been picked up unevenly and has tendedto fall down through the bristles into the inside of the brush. near.A their base. This wastes the cleaning powderand makes.`

a messy job of cleaning the teeth. With some brushes it has been impossible to get enough powderY onto the surface of the teeth to eiect a good scrubbing action.

Another problem has been to provide abrush which willlnot'wear out unevenly and thereby lose its, eiciency.

All these problems are solved bythe present invention whose all-round performance is such that it canreally be called almouthbrush.

I have discovered that one reasonV why prior., artbrushes scratched and damaged both the gums and the teethl was because their bristles were too coarseand too' rm. Because of theircoarseness, the bristlesiwere. not able to yield enough or give way asthe brush passed over ice individual tufts of bristles havebeent mounded-ortapered on the working'end by trimmingthe'tuft'from' the'outside inA toward the center. The result' of, this trimming, has been to give each bristle a sharpv point as when a twigy is cut at an angle with aesharp' knife. Thesel sharp pointed bristles are especiallylikely to' injure thegingival tlssue.

Due to the taper on' the tuft; the likelihood ofA injuryl is'accentuated becausethe bristles'at theecenter of the' tuft" are longer than the outside bristles.' This means that the pressure from the'hand is transmittedto the teeth or gums by' only the longest' ofthe bristles.

The toothbrush of this invention employs a special' type of bristle. It is a small. diameter nylon bristle thatv is more soft or, flexible and resilient thanw the nylon or. naturalr bristles heretofore inuse: The invention also. is characterized by the fact that a large number of these. slender bristles are` used to make up each tuft,. by the. fact that. the tufts are very close together, and by the, fact that the bristles are` trimmedstraight across `to substantially the same height. The result is that the bristles contact the teeth and the gums with a soft sweepingy action. The closeness and the large number oflthe thin, bristles, in combination, gives the support. needed to y brush olf any foreign matter which may be on the teethi When the bristles give way underA pressure, the fact that, they are closely compacted andthat there are so many helps themA support each other.4 Thebrush is used without harm to massage.` the. gums.

Because the bristles. are so closeA together,. are. sc ne, and are cut oi evenly, they also pick` up tooth. powder. readily and tend to support it on their ends. until. itis. carried into contact with the wet, surfacesof theY teeth.

Other objects, advantages` and characteristics oft-ther invention will be seen fromthe following description-of. a detailed embodiment thereof. In accordance with U..S.. Revised Statutes, Section 488.8, anillustrative embodiment is described in detail, but the invention is, not` intended.. torbe limited by such. details, exceptas requiredbyfthe. appended` claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. lfisaview inperspectiveof a toothbrush incorf. porating the principles of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged planview looking down on;` the unsecuredends of the bristles;A

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view inside elevation oftherpart; of the brushV shown inFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view in front elevation ofthe same;

Fig. 5 is a view in front elevation of a brush. as. it appears when placed on the gums;

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of the brush inthe same position as in Fig. 5; and.

Fig. 7 is a view like Fig. 5 butV showingthe brushI as it appears when it is being moved-over/the gums toward or away from theteeth.

My improved toothbrush-includesa.handle;10 whose' widenedfforward head portion 11 provides` a base for: the bristles. A number of holes l2 are boredy close1to-A gether` in this base 11, and a tuft ofibristles-13is mounted,

deep in each one. The holes- 12 are arranged in rowsA which extend parallel to -the longitudinal'axis of the handle and support the` slendery bristles closetogether to` acf commodate a large number ofbrist1esin.each tuft 13tineach of,` the transversely spaced rows." Asshown in' Fig.l 3, thereis a small clearance'betweenadjacenttuftse.

at their base, but at theworking ends'thetufts-tend'-tov merge to for a substantiallycontinuouse top surfa'cezor series of level surfaces.

The type of bristle is important. As stated above coarse bristles tend to cause abrasion,` and most tooth;

brushes; employ` a relatively` small .number of such coarse:-

bristles. I employ instead a very slender nylon bristle 15. Preferably, the diameter of each bristle 15 is approximately 0.008 inch, and an advantage of nylon is that each bristle 15 can be made perfectly uniform. If the bristle is much thicker, it tends to be too coarse, and if it is much thinner it tends not to be sutliciently stout or resilient. The bristles may extent approximately 1A; into the holes 12 and project out 3/s" to 1/2 from the base.

The slender nylon bristles 15 are each very resilient and will give way when they are forced against the teeth instead of remaining upright and scratching the surface of the tooth. Because the nylon bristles do not absorb water, their strength remains fairly constant at all times. This characteristic makes it possible to obtain a brush with suicient strength made up of slender nylon bristles, by combining a large number of bristles in each tuft.

With each nylon bristle of about 0.008 inch diameter I have found that by combining approximately forty bristles 15 in each tuft 13, and then spacing the tufts 13 in each row as close together as possible, I am able to get the two desirable characteristics of a soft brush that retains its brushing strength and is not harsh.

The bristles 15 in each tuft 13 Hare out somewhat, and the upper ends of some bristles 15 in any one tuft 13 will touch the upper ends of some bristles 15 in the adjacent tufts in the same row. The tufts in adjacent rows will either touch each other, or will almost do so, so that when pressure is applied the bristles will tend to support each other as they are deflected.

For an adults brush I prefer to have four rows of about fifteen tufts 13 each. Thus, in an adults brush there may be between 2400 and 2500 bristles. A childs brush may have three rows with ten tufts in each row, or about 1200 bristles, and there may be intermediate sizes of brushes.

The brushes should have slender nylon bristles of about 0.008 inch diameter, with many bristles in each tuft, and with the tufts spaced closely together to support each other.

Another important feature is that the brush be trimmed straight across. Every bristle is cut across at the same height as every other bristle and the cut should be substantially perpendicular to the axis of the bristle. The effect of this is to provide the brush with a top surface made up of a mass of flat bristle ends, substantially coplanar with each other.

When such a brush is used to clean the teeth, the bristles give a wiping action instead of a scraping action.

The bristles all contact the surface of the tooth or gums,

and they deect together under pressure. This means that in this brush the many bristles transmit each its gentle pressure from the hand to the teeth instead of having a few stiff or long bristles in the center of the tuft of the prior art brush transmit most or all of the pressure.

The result achieved by a tooth and gum massage brush made as above described and clearly shown in the drawings (Figs. 1 to 4) with a plurality of spaced-apart substantially continuous longitudinal rows of soft bristles cut"btf flat to provide spaced-apart substantially continuoils flat gently-yielding gum-contacting surfaces may be described as follows: When the brush is applied with its flat-ended, separated, continuous rows of soft 'bristles in contact with the gums, the effect is first as shown in Figs. and 6, namely, to cause the gums to be depressed in the spaced-apart linear areas 20, 21, 22 and 23, and to project upwardly between these areas forming the gums into continuous longitudinal ridges 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28. When more pressure is applied to the brush and it is moved across the gums toward the teeth or in the other direction, the effect is as shownlin Fig. 7. Each ridge 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 retains its general form under the influence of the flexed spaced-apart continuous rows of dat-cut soft bristles with the result that there are in a four-row brush, ve continuous ridges 24, 25, 26, 27 75 and 28 lled with a small amount of blood being moved in the gum under the gentle influence of the brush.

Another advantage of this improved brush is that when tooth powder is used the many bristles combine to form at their working ends a plurality of substantially flat surfaces on which the powder can be supported. The powlder particles adhere sufficiently so they cannot readily work down through the mass of closely spaced bristles.

Because the nylon bristles are many and distribute the work to many and because they are slender and yield together, the brush of this invention has a very long life by comparison with earlier brushes.

When used to brush the teeth, the improved brush is used in the normal manner. When used to stimulate the gums, the bristles are placed on the gums and pressure is exerted against the handle, at the same time giving a slight rotary motion in a plane normal to the bristles. With sensitive gums, only a mild massage should be given for the rst few days, but soon a complete massage can be given, and if the brush is used with normal precautions, the gums cannot be injured. There is no scratching action, but rather a gentle rubbing due to the many at bristle ends pressing on the gums. Although the feel cannot be fully described, it can be said that it is soft and even. The mass of closely compacted, slender, resilient bristles gives `an invigorating stimulus to the gums, just as they produce an even cleansing action on the surfaces of the teeth.

Instead of nylon for the bristles, other non-absorbent synthetic material of like characteristics may be used. Nylon is a product of the E. I. du Pont Company, of Wilmington, Delaware.

I claim:

1. In a mouthbrush adapted for massaging gums as well as cleaning teeth, the combination of a head portion and an elongated handle extending therefrom, at least three transversely spaced rows of bristles, each row of bristles being in a plane parallel to each other, said bristles being soft and resilient and of substantially uniform relatively small diameter having at trimmed free ends and secured in tufts at their vother ends in corresponding rows of holes in said head portion, said holes of each row being closely spaced and parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle so that the flat trimmed free ends of the contiguous bristles secured in adjacent tufts in each row will touch to form a substantially flat continuous lengthwise working surface along the free ends of said bristles in each row, said rows of holes being transversely spaced for a distance sul'icient to provide lengthwise spaces between the fiat working surfaces of the bristles in adjacent rows, whereby in use the tlat free end working surfaces of the bristles in each row will make substantially continuous equal contact with gums in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle and will be out of contact with the gums in the intermediate spaces between the rows of bristles to provide la plurality of lengthwise, spaced apart substantially continuous lines of gentle pressure contact thereon as the brush is drawn thereacross causing alternate depressing and releasing of adjacent lengthwise areas of gum tissue and consequent stimulation and sweeping of 'blood in gentle amounts in said areas being contacted.

2. The device of claim l in which the bristles are made of a synthetic, non-absorbent material in the range of 0.008 inch diameter.

3. The device of claim 2 in which there are approximately 40 bristles in each tutt.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 835,709 Miller Nov. 13, 1906 1,679,785 Quinn Aug. 7, 1928 2,224,788 Jobst Dec. 10, 1940 2,273,717 Millard Feb. 17, 1942 2,289,313 Cave luly 7, 1942 2,396,548v Allen Mar. l2, 1946 

